To See You Again
by goblz
Summary: Oneshot Naley. Haley comes home to Nathan lying comatose in the hospital.


**I have returned to world of One Tree Hill fanfics. I have started Chapter Seven of "Not What They Seem," so hopefully that will be up sometime this week or next week. **

**As for this, another one shot, this time focusing on Haley and Nathan, but the others also make an appearance. I didn't see the episode after Nathan's racecar crashed, so I don't know how Haley found out about the accident. In this fic, Haley arrives home and Nathan hasn't woken up yet. I hope you all like it, let me know what you think!**

**To See You Again**

The hospital walls closed in on her, adding to her anxiety. She pressed on in spite of her fear, wanting to get to her husband's room as soon as possible and yet dreading arriving there. She knew his parents would be there, and they would not be happy to see her. Nevertheless, Haley James Scott had to see her husband.

She hated that the first time she would see him for months would be here. She hated that it took something so horrible to bring her home. It hurt to know that when she would look upon his gorgeous face for the first time in so long, he wouldn't be looking back. His eyes would be closed and he wouldn't even know she was there.

She turned a corner and found herself in the ICU waiting room, in front of Nathan's parents, his brother, his closest friends, and the high school Varsity basketball team.

Lucas Scott, her brother-in-law and lifelong best friend, saw her first. He sat with his friends Brooke Davis and Peyton Sawyer, his and Nathan's ex-girlfriends, respectively. For a second Haley was relieved to make eye contact with him, but the look of shock, disbelief and anger on his face quickly killed it.

Lucas stood up as if to go to her, but Dan Scott saw her then and quickly jumped to his feet. "What the hell do you think you are doing here?" he demanded, stepping in front of his oldest son to confront Haley.

The entire room looked over at her, and among their faces she saw mixed feelings over her arrival. She had known by leaving that she'd done a lot of damage, but standing there just then brought home for the first time just how much had been done.

"Answer me," Dan yelled, commanding Haley's attention. "You have no right to be here."

"I—I came to see Nathan," Haley said quietly. "How is he?"

Dan had always intimidated Haley, and he had never liked her. This time he had a real cause to be angry, and that made him even worse.

"Listen to me, if you know what is good for you--,"

"Lay off, Dan," a familiar voice from behind interrupted. Haley turned to see Karen Roe, Lucas' mother, standing behind her. "She came to see her husband, and there's nothing you can do about it." Karen looked at Haley. "Come on, sweetie. I'll take you to his room."

Haley turned to follow, watching the crowd of faces staring at her. Peyton gave her a small smile. Dan still stood in his place, looking furious, and behind him was Deb, Nathan's mother. Her icy blue eyes followed Haley's steps, so the singer looked again to her long-time best friend. Lucas still looked angry, and that more than anyone else's reaction to her disheartened her.

She followed Karen down one hallway and then another. "Thanks for saving me from Dan," she said finally, breaking the silence.

Karen looked back with a sympathetic smile. "Dan is something else, isn't he?"

"How is Nathan?" Haley asked timidly. "All Peyton said on the phone was that his injuries were really bad."

"They are," Karen nodded as she stopped by a hospital door and turned to Haley. Haley stepped forth to the nameplate on the wall: Nathan Scott.

Her vision blurred by sudden tears, Haley looked to the older woman. "I couldn't stand to see Lucas unconscious," she said hoarsely. "How can I walk in there and see Nathan like that?"

With a soft smile, Karen patted the teen's shoulder. "It won't be easy, but you'll do it because you know he needs to know that you're here and that you love him." Karen nodded to the door. "Now go on. You've both been waiting long enough."

When Karen walked away, Haley put her left hand down on the doorknob. She looked inside through the small windowpane on the door. The room was dark but she could see the seventeen-year old on his back in the bed. She hesitated, feeling scared. She was not good with these kinds of things—being calm in a disaster, being strong when she was scared. It didn't fit her. She knew Nathan needed her, but she couldn't be strong for him; not when she couldn't be strong for herself.

She turned the doorknob and pushed open the door. Stepping into the room slowly, her hand found the light switch. A small lamp on the bedside table turned on, but the patient made no reaction to the change, not even a tiny flicker of movement.

She closed the door behind her and slowly crossed the room to his bed, her eyes taking him in. She reached his side and had grabbed his hand before even realizing she'd reached for it. She stared down at him, his hand sandwiched between both of hers.

"Nathan, it's me," she whispered down to him, trying to ignore the oxygen line going into his nose, the IV running into his right arm. "Time to wake up now, okay?"

Nothing happened. She felt a lump forming in her throat as visions of their short life together flew through her head. Their tutoring sessions, their dates… the first time they'd kissed and when he told her he loved her. She remembered the day they'd gotten married, the beautiful words he'd said to her. Then suddenly she was seeing the life they hadn't had together… the life that was supposed to have been ahead of them. Before she knew it, she was on her knees, her head against the side of the bed. Above her shoulders, her hands held tightly onto his and she sobbed.

* * *

Another half an hour saw her in a chair in the far corner of the room, her blood-shot eyes never leaving Nathan. During the time they were together there had been so much love between them. She smiled as she recalled the way he used to look at her, and a part of her couldn't believe she had chosen to leave that. She could have waited until they had graduated high school—until he was playing basketball in college—to start her music career. She shouldn't have gone with a man she had kissed, with a man whom Nathan didn't trust. If she had done things right, then he wouldn't have taken it that she'd left him for something more important to her than he was—and for someone else. He wouldn't be lying here comatose right now. 

The door opened and Lucas came in. He looked at her for a moment and then took a seat in a chair as well—the chair closest to Nathan. Silence passed as she watched him and he watched Nathan. She had never before seen such fear on his face; but something else weighed on her mind more.

"Why didn't you call me?" she asked finally, hostility in her voice.

He looked at her. "He told me not to."

"I'm his wife, Luke! I deserved better than that."

The fierce anger in his face took her aback. "Nathan deserved better than what you put him through."

Haley felt herself go on the defensive. "I never meant to hurt him like that, Luke. I wanted to be married to him and have a music career!"

"You should have been here Haley," the blond said accusingly. "If you had been…" he trailed off and looked back to his brother. Then he shook his head and bent down his seat, his elbows on his knees and his palms in his hair.

Knowing she would cry again sent Haley hustling out of the room right as Brooke and Peyton were coming in. Peyton chased her down the hallway and caught her arm.

"Haley, where are you going? You just got here!"

"Nobody wants me here," Haley replied, wiping her eyes. "And I can't take him being so…"

"Unconscious?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah. What are the doctors saying, Peyton?"

Peyton lifted her shoulders, her hands going to her back pockets. "That… he has some head injuries and he's comatose. And he had to have surgery for his injuries, too."

"What… what if… I can't do this. I cannot handle this. I need to go."

Again Peyton grabbed her arm. "No matter what happened between you two before, Nathan will be so happy to see you here. And Lucas… He needs you here, too."

"No, Lucas is incredibly angry with me," Haley disagreed.

Peyton shook her head. "Haley, he's been a complete wreck. Don't take it personally, all right?"

"No, it is personal," the brunette said, tearing up. "We… Lucas blames me for this, I think."

Peyton looked surprised. "Why would he blame you?"

"Because… I wasn't here. And if I had been, Nathan wouldn't have been in this accident."

The blonde gave her a small hug. "Like I said, Lucas is a wreck. And you're a wreck. We are all a wreck, okay? Believe me, if you leave now things will just get even worse."

"That's the last thing I want," Haley replied, following Peyton back into Nathan's room. Brooke gave her a smile but Lucas ignored her. It hurt knowing he blamed her, and she knew him well enough to know that he did. It hurt a million times more that she had already been blaming herself.

* * *

Haley had been sitting at Nathan's side for almost two days, terrified of leaving the hospital. She knew if he woke up when she wasn't there, he would think she hadn't come. It stung knowing that he hadn't wanted her to come the last time he was conscious, but she was determined to show him that she would be there from then on. They belonged at each other's side, and at his side was where she was going to stay. 

"Sixteen is too young to get married," she said to Peyton while they were drinking coffee in the cafeteria.

"Then why did you marry him?" Peyton asked in surprise.

The singer set her cup down and sighed. "Because I love him."

"Do you want a divorce?"

"No!" Haley exclaimed, looking up. "I just meant that we're too young for all of this stuff that's been happening."

"Don't I know it," Peyton replied. "That's how I feel about my life, too." She looked at Haley and set her cup down on the table as well. "Here's what I know, Haley. Seventeen is too young to lose the love of your life."

Brooke approached the table just then. "Hey, you too, good news! Nathan is awake!"

* * *

Nathan looked shocked to see Haley come into his hospital room. She smiled as she approached his bed, feeling ecstatic and anxious at the same time. She passed Lucas, who had been with Nathan when he awoke. Lucas gave her a smile and she gladly smiled back, feeling the same joy that Nathan was awake. 

When they were alone, Haley sat down on Nathan's bed and took his hand. He looked at her suspiciously.

"I told Lucas not to call you," he said, his voice raspy.

"Well, don't be mad at him for it," she said. "Peyton called me. I'm glad somebody did." She frowned. "Why didn't you want me to know, Nathan?"

"I didn't want this to be the reason you came home, Haley. I wanted you to come home because you truly wanted to come back to me."

"I do, Nathan," she replied, inching closer to him. "That's what I want now more than anything. When I first got here, I hated that when I saw you, you wouldn't see me. When Peyton called me, my heart shattered into a million pieces and I could have died along with you, Nathan." She sniffled. "Please don't send me away because I finally realize that with you is where I want to be. It's where I need to be. Music can come later, at a better time when we don't have to be apart for it to happen."

He broke his hand free of hers and cupped her face. "I... Are you sure?"

"More than anything. I'm not leaving this time. Not ever again."

He took a deep breath, his eyes filling with tears. "I missed you so much, Haley. All I wanted was to see you again, to kiss you and love you. I couldn't… I'm not anything without you Hales."

Misty eyed, she stretched her arms across his bandaged chest, hugging him softly. She pulled her legs up onto the bed and lay down with him, thanking everything she could think of that this was happening, that Nathan was going to pull through. And she never realized the full meaning of his words.

**The End**


End file.
